Dosing calculator

Daniel225 · Feb 13, 2023

So just to make sure I’ve got this dosing pump stuff right before I set sail - calcuim test

day 1- 460
day 10 (today)- 450

it has dropped by 10 in the course of 10 days so to maintain the 450ppm in a 400L (ish im lowballing as i believe it’s 500L mark without rock/sand etc) Red Sea foundation says 1ml every 100L for a 2ppm boost according to my calculations im losing 10ppm every 10 days so every 2 days I should be dosing 4ml correct?

Daniel225 · Feb 13, 2023

Also ALK is at 9.3 DKH if I’m right in reading this it should be at 12.6 for a sps frag tank I always conider this too high should I aim for 12DKH when starting to add all my frags (I only buy frags it’s cheaper) then when everything is established and tanks looking grown and full take it down to the 11.5DKH? For the mixed reef

Mrwim94 · Feb 13, 2023

Hi Daniel,

10 ppm Ca drop in 10 days = 1 ppm daily Ca consumption
dosing 0,5 ml/100L = + 1ppm Ca
So with 400L you need 2 ml for an increase of 1 ppm in Ca.
To meet your Ca consumption you should dose 4 ml every 2 days, or 2 ml daily is even better.

I do not know the answer to the second question, seems high to me but I am not (yet

) an SPS expert.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 13, 2023

There's no way that a single 10 ppm drop in calcium is accurate enough to say that is the demand over 10 days. All hobby kits have variability of at least that much. The Hanna calcium checker would only claim that a reading of 420 ppm says that the real calcium level is somewhere between 395 ppm and 445 ppm.

I'd add the 10 ppm, then keep watching it once a week for several weeks.

bushdoc · Feb 13, 2023

"Also ALK is at 9.3 DKH if I’m right in reading this it should be at 12.6 for a sps frag tank"
There are reefers keeping alkalinity as highs 12+ in their tanks, but they are not majority.
In my opinion 9.3 dKh is just perfect for SPS or mixed reef tank.
I have a suspicion that when you buy a frag from LFS or online retailer, very few keeps such a high alkalinity as 12.6 dKH, so you will cause some stress to your corals when putting it in your frag tank.